Article V of the United
States Constitution says that if two thirds of the State Legislatures apply,
the Congress shall call a convention to propose amendments to the constitution.
In the 230 years of our
history there have been more than 700 applications from the State Legislatures.
Forty-nine of the fifty states have applied. Some States have applied many
times.
Congress has never called a
convention. Congress has never considered calling a convention. Congress has
never even counted the applications.
Why haven’t they? Why has
Congress ignored their obligation under Article V?
Very simply because they
don’t want a convention.
The Article V convention was
written into our constitution for the very purpose of giving the States a means
to amend the constitution in ways that the Congress doesn’t want.
Term limits. Gerrymandering.
Pork barrel laws. Balanced Budgets. Congress doesn’t want to reform itself. And
Congress doesn’t want a convention that will propose reforms.
Let’s face it. The United
States Congress will never call an Article V convention. No matter how many
states apply. No matter how many times they apply. No matter what words they
use or what amendments they want.
Congress simply will not call
a convention. Not in my lifetime. Not in your lifetime. Not in the lives of our
children and grandchildren.
So what are we to do?
The Constitution gives us the
right to a convention. With or without the call or the permission of the
Congress, the people of the United States have the right peaceably to assemble
for any lawful purpose.
We don’t need a call from the
Congress. We don’t need anyone’s permission. The Congress can’t stop us. The
President can’t stop us. The Supreme Court can’t stop us. The army can’t stop
us. The FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security, nobody can stop the people from coming
together to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
All we need is the will and
the way. The way is right here on the Internet. www.conventionusa.org. Convention USA –
conVusa for short – is up and running. It is to be an interactive Article V
Amendatory Constitutional Convention of 6,166 delegates representing every
county in the nation.
All that is left is the will.
Government is like the
weather: everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.
Whatever your politics, if you
believe we need constitutional reform in America, I urge you to join me and
hundreds of other patriotic citizens in this historic effort. Go to www.conventionusa.org. Find your district
and register as a delegate. Then forward this page to all your friends.
You can make a difference.
History teaches that the Congress will obey and issue the call as soon as a tipping-point majority become cognizant of what a convention is, why it exists in our law, and why it's not dangerous. To say the Congress will never call appears to be politically motivated, i.e. to get people to play "convention" on-line, instead of doing the right thing and bringing folks into the chorus that the time has come for the Congress to obey. Indeed there is evidence we are close: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42592.pdf
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that history teaches about the 'tipping point' is that Congress is so opposed to a convention that they even proposed the 17th amendment to avoid calling one.
ReplyDeleteI insist that Congress will never call a convention because, after thirty years of fruitless effort, I believe they won't. And yes, I am politically motivated to recruit patriots who want to be real players in the game of constitutional reform and not just ineffectual carolers who think that members of Congress can be serenaded into acting against their own self interest.
If you want to characterize Americans as attempting to serenade Congress, of course that suits your agenda, but the fact that the Congressional Research Service has published and UPDATED MULTIPLE TIMES in the past two years, a paper about the Article V Convention--even stating that in this social media day and age if enough want it Congress will call--means one thing: we're close to the tipping-point. The only reason it hasn't happened in thirty years is because the issue was tarred and feather with fear and irrationality, but of course our work with FOAVC has done much to dispel such. I'm not saying this to antagonize a judge, I'm saying it in the hopes you recognize what I'm saying: there's nothing wrong with your idea, indeed it adds more fuel to our fire, but how about a little multi-tasking?
ReplyDeleteGood post and good information Judge Brennan. Despite the debate about whether Congress will call or not, we can safely assume that one way to ensure the call, will be to elevate the stature of the Article V Convention movement to the point where congressional elections actually hinge on whether any particular lawmaker supports the call or not. Threatened with being ejected from office, federal legislators will abide by the language of Article V and set a time and place for the convention. However, we may not need to build popular support to such a high level before a spectre of reason and jurisprudence descends upon either Washington, or the nation as a whole. All the different factions and projects within the Fiver movement, including Convention USA, are leading us to this eventuality: the constitutional right for an amendments convention will be realized as general awareness continues to compound and Congress continues its track of lessening accountability to the people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea if Incongruous won't initiate the sequence that they get left behind in the "Conventional Dust." Where will the convention be held? One single point or numerous? Who will take the initiative? We need to develop an order of battle. The average person on the street who is oblivious to this movement needs to know the who, what, when, where, why and how of Article V.
ReplyDeleteDave:
ReplyDeleteI spell it out in my book, THE ARTICLE V AMENDATORY CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: Keeping the Republic in the Twenty-First Century (Lexington Books, 2014).
Where? Saint Louis, When? May of 2017. Who? Delegates from each State will caucus in advance and send spokespersons. How? Delegates who don’t go to Saint Louis will vote on their computers at home.
It’s not rocket science.
TEB